Unfimiliar Territory
by RottenedRipe
Summary: A girl who has no idea who she is or where she is and a guy who can't escape his past find their lives constantly colliding as they fight torture, duty, and uncertainty in Faraway centuries after Thalia rejoined Calandry and Sinnendor. Cliche? Maybe. Entertaining? Also maybe. OC/OC [A fic based on The Iron Butterfly series by Chanda Hahn.]


I awoke to the unfamiliar sound of a river and light creeping in through the mist and leaves of the trees. The sound of the rushing water awoke a thirst in me and I scrambled to my feet as quickly as I could. The effort caused the world to blur and tilt around me, but I pushed forward without deter instinctively—I needed water now. The world slowly righted itself as I hastily stumbled from tree to tree toward the sound, then the river came into clear view and I fell to my stomach and plunged my face and torso into its cool embrace with my mouth wide open. I gulped greedily at the water until I came back up gasping and coughing for air.

Regaining my composure, I pushed myself to my knees and saw that I was covered in mud. Then another realization hit me—my clothes weren't my own. I tugged at the dark blue skirt and gray shirt smeared with the wet mud of the river bank with tears and snags from who knows what. I was wearing them, but I couldn't remember ever seeing them before. I tried to think back to how I got here, but came up blank. Nothing. I couldn't recall anything about how I got here. Panic started to bubble from my stomach to my chest as I realized I couldn't remember anything. I tried again and again to remember even the tiniest scent, image, sound, anything at all, but the only memories I could find were the ones of waking up and scrambling to the river.

My breaths started to come quicker now and sounded ragged as my panic set in. It felt like a hand was squeezing my heart and tightening its grip with each breath and my mind raged against its mental walls trying to rip them down. I painfully dragged in another wheezing breath of air and I sank further into the muddy bank as the storm in my mind ceased and hopeless sobs replaced my panic.

The light was shining confidently through the trees and the mist had dissipated by the time my sobs were nothing but the occasional whimper. Slowly, I recollected myself, or what was left of it. I steadied my breathing and calmed my shaking body. A small fire inside me started to burn and I suddenly felt stronger. Crying and panicking like a child won't get me out of this situation. I had to figure out how to get out of these woods and to a shelter where I can regroup and figure out how to get home and my memories back. Probably not in that order, but I had to do something. Giving up and doing nothing is the same as dying and I wasn't about to die. Not here. Not without figuring out who I am.

I patted down my person to see if I had anything on me that might help and felt something hard as I patted my right thigh. My skirt had pockets! I found the opening in the folds of my skirt and reached inside wrapping my hand around something metal. I pulled it out to find a ring. It was silver with small diamonds snaking their way around a blue opalescent design that covered half of the ring. Half of the ring was thicker and covered with the diamonds and opalescent while the other half was thinner and plain. Along the inside was an engraving, "To my beautiful Iona. Love, Mom".

I read the simple engraving over and over. Iona? Is this my ring? I wasn't wearing it, so did I take it from someone else? I couldn't be sure, but holding it gave me a sense of relief. I felt like the tiniest piece of myself that I had been desperately reaching for was sitting in my hand. I still wasn't sure, but it felt like mine.

"Iona," I tested the name out loud. It felt nice, but is the name mine?

I knew I wouldn't get the answer from the ring, but it was more than I had moments ago. A name. Whether it was mine or not, I had a name. I wasn't anyone else, so I could be Iona, if only for a while. I clasped the ring tight in my hand and breathed a deep calming breath. Having the ring made me feel like I could find my way in this fog of uncertainty. Feeling lighter, I put the ring back in my pocket to hide it from view on instinct. It was a whisper in the back of my mind that warned me to keep my belongings hidden. Was I trying to hide something from someone before I lost my memory? Letting the unanswerable question burn out like the wick of a candle, I checked to see if there was something worthwhile in my other pocket. It took me a moment to find the hidden opening on my skirt, but when I reached in my fingers found nothing but a little bit of lint along the bottom of the lining. I didn't let that disappoint me though. I had already found a small connection to my past and that was more than enough for the moment.

Looking down at myself again, I realized what a mess I was. If I planned to try and find shelter, and hopefully someone to point me in the right direction of answers, I needed to clean up. I didn't have any spare clothing and didn't have time to spare to wait for them to dry, so I decided against washing them. I slipped them off and tried getting some of the major smudges off before testing the current of the river. I slowly waded in, stopping after each step and gingerly pushing my other foot forward to see if it would be tugged by a strong undercurrent.

After testing out the river to its deepest point, which came up to my shoulders, without the hint of a dangerous current I relaxed. The cold water soothed and eased my worries. I held fast to a nearby rock as I closed my eyes and leaned back onto the water to let the current rush around me. Opening my eyes dazzled me. The tops of the trees burned with the light of the sun as the wind danced through the leaves with the light. It was spectacular. I burned its beauty into the backs of my eyelids and stood up to rubbed at the dirt that covered my body. Holding onto another rock, I ducked my head under to wash my face and neck easier. When I came up for air I nearly forgot to breathe. A man dressed in black, holding the reins of a large equally black horse was standing right beside the branch I had hung my clothes over with an expression of surprise and awe.


End file.
